Through the night
by Kegel
Summary: They ran, but they were not fast enough, as the rest of their team has to find out. Angst. SaraGreg.
1. A shot in the dark

**Through the night**

**Summary: **They ran, but they were not fast enough, as the rest of their team has to find out. Angst. SaraGreg.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own CSI or any of its characters.

**Rating: **T

**A/N: **This is a sequel to "_Unforeseen and Unnoticed_". Nevertheless it is absolutely **not** necessary to have read that to understand what's going on here.

Actually I had planned to write a Humor story, but what comes out again? An Angst story. Anyway, here we go.

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Chapter 1: A shot in the dark**

A series of shots destroyed the silence that had filled the darkness outside.

They looked up, startled. Greg glanced at Sara terrified.

Then there were more shots, this time even nearer. This time they were inside the house.

Sara jumped up and ran towards the back door, almost stumbling over Greg on her way, ignoring for once in her life any evidence that she might leave behind.

"Get out of her," she called quietly, though barely able to keep down her voice, but forcing herself to speak quietly in hopes not to give away that the both of them were in this room.

She pulled the door open and pushed Greg out, who had come up to her.

"Run," she told him fearfully.

Greg seemed to swallow, but started into a sprint towards the gathering of trees that lay not far away from the house.

Sara hurried after him, knowing that running was their only choice. The number of shots they had heard and the fact that they had come nearer had told her that the officers that had been outside and inside the house had been overwhelmed, were probably dead or severely injured, and that it would be only a matter of seconds before the attackers, whoever they were, would enter the room that she and Greg had processed.

While running, Sara called for back-up, hoping whoever heard her, would hurry up.

She ran, seeing Greg nervously glancing back in front of her. She was happy to be in a comparatively good condition, so she could keep up the high speed. She ran and prayed that whoever had shot only a few seconds earlier would not step out of the back door, would not see them running. Flight was their only choice, as hiding would only have been waiting for them to find them.

She saw Greg disappear behind some trees and reached the spot, where he had disappeared, only two seconds later. She looked around and saw Greg cowering behind a large tree, looking horrified and panting heavily.

She hurried to him, "You okay?" she asked worried, herself panting.

"Not really," Greg answered. "What the hell happened?"

Sara crouched behind him and hugged him shortly from behind. "I don't know."

Greg was surprised by her unusual sign of tenderness. It was something she usually reserved for their time at home, something she did not show at work.

Work, Greg thought almost ironically. This was not work anymore, this was something distinctly more existential.

"So unprofessional tonight?" he joked, only trying to get rid of some of his fear.

Sara frowned sadly, "Please, Greg, don't."

Greg looked downwards. "Sorry."

"I really don't know what happened," Sara said again, "I only know that we had to run."

"Why didn't you use your gun?" Greg wanted to know.

It took some seconds before Sara answered. "They are several people, you could hear it. We had no choice." She looked at Greg.

"I think you made the right decision," he said encouragingly.

Sara hoped that the back-up she had called for would hurry up.

"What-", Greg started, looking at her anxiously.

"Wait. And hope that back-up comes quickly," Sara answered his unspoken question.

She hugged him again briefly, a sign of encouragement for him, but also of confirmation for her, before she stood up to look over the bushes in front of them.

Greg wondered how much she would be able to see in the only dim light that came from the house. It was new moon that night and as they were outside of Vegas there was not much light from the city reaching them either.

Suddenly Sara stepped back, only to crouch down again.

"Greg," she whispered anxiously, "They're coming. We have to go."

Greg nodded and jumped up. Sara pressed her hands on his back.

"Stay down," she told him. She crabbed away as fast as possible, trying not to make any noise. Greg followed her. They were heading deeper into the woods.

Some minutes later found them surrounded by almost complete darkness; Greg could not even see Sara anymore in front of him.

Suddenly he heard foot steps behind him.

"We are too slow," he called as quietly as possible.

Sara cursed. "Where's the damn back-up?"

Greg could hear the fear in her voice and he thought that his heart would stop when he saw the shine of a flashlight only a few feet away from them.

"They have to be here," he heard a male voice calling. After some seconds of silence, another male voice answered, "Shoot them when you find them. We don't need any witnesses."

Again a flashlight flickered only a little distance away from where Greg and Sara were cringing away slowly.

Sara stopped, jumped up and turned around. She dragged Greg to his feet and whispered, "Run, please run," and Greg could not miss the panic in her voice.

Sara let go of his hands and broke into a sprint like she had done only some minutes earlier, while Greg hurried after her as fast as he could, hoping not to stumble in the darkness, hoping not to be seen, hoping that both of them ran fast enough.

* * *

The person, to whom the voice that had spoken first belonged, let his flashlight wander in the distance. Trees, trees and some more trees came into his sight. He continued walking and let his light wander again.

This time he thought he had seen something, someone disappear behind some trees.

The man broke into a run and kept his flashlight steady in the direction where he had seen the movement.

Then he saw them. There were two people, a man and a woman, and they were running for their bare lifes.

They were quite far away and he could see them only vague in the shine of the flashlight, but he lifted his gun and shot once.

He saw somebody falling in the distance. "One," he counted. He shot again and the second person fell. "Two," he said satisfied.

**TBC**


	2. Search and Failure

**Through the night**

**Summary: **They ran, but they were not fast enough, as the rest of their team has to find out. Angst. SaraGreg. Sequel to _Unforeseen and Unnoticed._

**Disclaimer: **I don't own CSI or any of its characters.

**Rating: **T

**A/N: **Thanks to _Aidrianna, Tripp3235, Jessica Summers, daily, missusmesser, roxxi, alwayswrite05, loose-canon-with-a-gun, piepretzelngreg, ObessedTWFan _and _angw_ for your reviews.

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**Chapter 2: Search and failure**

_Some hours earlier_

It was warm. There was silence, flowing feelings. Her breath was calm. It was quiet and very pleasant. No dreams. Only silence. She laid her head comfortable on her arms again.

Suddenly Sara jumped up and cursed, realizing that she had fallen asleep.

She looked around carefully and noticed that nobody else was in the only dimly lit room of the crime lab.

Pulling several doubles after the other had taken its toll. Greg had warned her. Yesterday he had already been at home for hours – home a.k.a. her apartment, Sara thought smiling briefly - before she had arrived there. He had joked that she would fall asleep in the lab one day.

Sara looked at the table in front of her. A single file was lying there and she remembered that she had only gone in the room to get this forgotten file.

She looked at her watch and realized shocked, that she had slept for almost two hours. Why had nobody woken her up? She remembered that she had wanted to go over some cold cases together with Greg.

Thinking of Greg, where was he?

Gritting her teeth she started to search for him. When she was approaching the break room she saw him sitting in the middle of some other employees of the crime lab including some lab techs.

Sara sighed and congratulated herself. She had to tell Greg in the middle of the lab techs that she had fallen asleep during her work.

Cursing silently she walked to him and said, "Hey, can I talk to you?"

Greg looked at her uninterested and leaned back comfortable. "For all I care."

He yawned and looked indifferently and apparently without any intention to listen.

Sara stared at him. His indifference made her speechless and she wondered what had gotten into him.

She looked at him intensively. He had to know very well what awaited him at home.

Nevertheless Greg looked relaxed and careless.

"Come on, do you listen to me or not?"

Greg grinned impertinently.

Sara felt like going through the roof any moment now.

Glancing at him darkly she left the break room. Pacing down the corridor she pondered what to do now. She turned around edgily, pacing back in direction of the break room and saw Greg coming out of it.

She ignored him. He ignored that she ignored him. He turned to her, smiling.

Sara found it not amusing at all. She turned her back to him, ruffling her hair unbelieving, and speeded down the corridor.

"Hey," Greg called after her.

Sara snorted and turned around again. Greg grinned and approached her. "Did you sleep well?" he asked happily.

Sara was perplexed. "Hang on, what are you talking about?"

"Uh, you slept so sweetly. I didn't want to disturb you." Greg told her cheerfully.

Sara laughed relieved. "And what meant that scene in the break room? I wanted to tell you."

Greg grinned again. "Uh, just a tactical move. You certainly didn't want to tell all the lab techs that you have fallen asleep during work," he explained. "You don't want to hint you believed my incredible bad acting, did you?" he added laughing.

Sara smiled, grabbed his left arm and pulled Greg along the corridor. "Well, let's go back to work then," she said merrily and slid her arm around his waist.

"I told you," Greg teased her once more. Sara glared at him, but broke into a broad smile then and formed only three silent words with her lips.

* * *

Grissom had been on the way to the scene himself, when he had received the call.

He had sent Sara and Greg to start processing the scene of a homicide until he arrived there and he had been convinced that they would handle it without any problems.

This was not supposed to happen.

Grissom got out of his car and was met by an officer he did not know.

"There was a shooting. Several unidentified attackers. Two of our people are dead, two severely injured," the man told him.

Preparing for the worst, Grissom asked, "Where are my-,"

"Not found yet," the officer interrupted him. "We're going to search the woods," he said, pointing at the trees on the other side of the house.

"I'll come with you," Grissom said firmly. The officer looked not happy with this announcement, but at this moment Catherine walked towards them.

"What happened?" she wanted to know.

Grissom turned to her. "What are you doing here?"

Catherine frowned. "I heard…," she started, but continued then, waving her hand impatiently, "Grissom, that's not important now. Where are Greg and Sara?" There was deep worry in her voice.

"We'll start searching the woods now," the officer announced. "Stay behind us."

Catherine and Grissom walked behind several police officers towards the gathering of trees.

"How long since it happened?" Catherine asked.

"A little more than an hour since the shooting started," Grissom replied briefly.

They walked in silence for a while and to Catherine it seemed like an eternity.

It was only a couple of hours ago since she had seen Greg and Sara laughing together and leaving for the scene, but now it seemed so long ago. Catherine told herself not to think the worst too early.

The police officers thought that Greg and Sara had fled into the woods, as they could not be found anywhere in or around the house.

Catherine wondered how far they were in the woods and why they had not used their phones after the first call Sara had made.

They continued walking and Catherine watched fearfully the shines of the flashlights the officers used.

Every single second she wished that she would hear Greg calling.

Calling that he and Sara were fine and glad to be found, but it did not happen.

Suddenly someone who was walking a little ahead of them, called, "There's something."

Catherine trembled slightly.

Then the thin voice called again, "I found two bodies," and Catherine's stomach turned to ice.

**TBC**


	3. Planned and unplanned

**Through the night**

**Summary: **They ran, but they were not fast enough, as the rest of their team has to find out. Angst. SaraGreg. Sequel to _Unforeseen and Unnoticed._

**Disclaimer: **I don't own CSI or any of its characters.

**Rating: **T

**A/N: **Thanks to _Juliette7179, missusmesser, Sara Sidle 87, Tripp3235, Emmithar, Jessica Summers, suus, thatTaylorgirl, bene, daily, Aidrianna, roxxi, Manhattan SVU _and _loose-canon-with-a-gun _for your reviews.

Okay, this is only a short chapter (even shorter than the other ones), sorry about that.

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**Chapter 3: Planned and unplanned**

_Earlier that night_

Greg shut the door on the passenger's side of their car and leaned back.

"I'm planning to take some vacation in a couple of weeks." He looked at Sara who had just climbed onto the driver's seat.

"Mmh," was her only answer when she started the engine, waiting for what Greg actually wanted to say.

"I want to visit my family in California."

"Mmh." Sara was sure that this was not all he intended to say and her guess was confirmed by Greg's next question.

"Wanna come with me?" He watched her expectantly.

Instead of answering directly, Sara asked, "Do you think Grissom will give us both vacation at the same time?"

Greg grinned. "I know what you mean. What will he do without us? Anyway, he simply has to."

Sara drove along a wide left bend and pursed her lips. "Okay, if he gives us vacation…"

Greg let out a sound of joy. "More time for me with you," he exulted cheerfully.

Sara laughed and shook her head at the same time. It always surprised her how cheerful Greg was on the prospect to spend a lot of time with her. Not that her feeling in this point was any different.

"And you really need some vacation," Greg babbled on, "I mean you fell asleep in the lab," he teased, emphasizing the last words.

"Greg," Sara groaned. "I know that you told me."

Greg grinned, but fell silent.

"So, what did you do while I caught up the sleep I don't get because of you?"

Greg snorted. "That was a blow below the belt, Sara."

"I know." Sara loved to do that.

"I looked into some cold cases like we'd planned to do. We can go over it once we're back at the lab," Greg went back to topic.

"Okay, though I would have guessed that you'd want to go home then, I mean it's not much time left of our shift and this scene will take some time."

"Yeah, of course," Greg grinned. "If you're fine with that…"

Twenty minutes later Sara stopped the car and the both of them climbed out and were met by a police officer who filled them in.

Sara noticed that the crime scene was quite secluded and that the darkness seemed definitely darker outside there than it was nearer to the city.

They walked into the house and Greg whispered to Sara, "Can't wait till we're at home."

Sara smiled and they both entered the room that the coroner David Phillips was just leaving.

"See you later," he said and left Sara and Greg for themselves.

* * *

In the darkness of the wood the only light came from several small flashlights. Silence had followed the announcement of the young police-man. 

Catherine had been standing nailed to the spot for some seconds, but now she hurried forwards. Her eyes got wet when tears were coming up.

The call of the police-officer echoed in her head. _"I found two bodies." _This could not be true.

She ran and knew that Grissom was on her heels and while she was running, she considered other explanations for the fact that there were two bodies lying in the woods that they were searching for Greg and Sara.

She thought that it were maybe two of the assailants, she hoped desperately that this was the case, but before her brain could come up with another explanation other than that Greg and Sara were dead, she reached the young police-man, who had called.

Catherine stopped and starred numbly at what met her eyes. The young man let his flashlight shine on the two people who were lying on the ground. In the dim light Catherine recognized immediately the deathly pale, lifeless forms of Greg and Sara.

Greg was lying on his side and Sara was lying next to him. He had his arms around her chest. Both had their eyes shut.

Tears were streaming down Catherine's cheeks, while the young police-man stood silently next to her and Grissom approached them slowly, as if delaying to see it as long as possible.

Altogether it was only a short moment that Catherine stood there in shock, but for her it were some of the longest seconds she had ever experienced, before she looked more closely at her two friends who were lying in front of her and saw that Sara was still bleeding out of a wound on her waist.

Catherine held her breath, unbelieving, internalizing the fact that Sara was still bleeding. It took a second before she found her voice again.

"They are alive," she called tearfully.

"Get the paramedics," she ordered urgently and rubbed her eyes with her hands.

Agitation started behind her and the officer who was in charge started to tell off his young colleague for not being able to differ between living and dead.

Catherine did not notice any of that.

"They are still alive." Or at least Sara was.

**TBC**


	4. The longest night

**Through the night**

**Summary: **They ran, but they were not fast enough, as the rest of their team has to find out. Angst. SaraGreg. Sequel to _Unforeseen and Unnoticed._

**Disclaimer: **I don't own CSI or any of its characters.

**Rating: **T

**A/N: **Thanks to _Juliette7179, roxxi, spikes-storm, Jessica Summers, remoob1513, loose-canon-with-a-gun, thatTaylorgirl, Emmithar, angw_ and _Sara Sidle 87 _for your reviews.

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Chapter 4: The longest night **

_Greg hurried after Sara as fast as he could, hoping not to stumble in the darkness, hoping not to be seen, hoping that both of them ran fast enough._

Greg ran, but he did not really see where he was going. He just followed Sara.

Then he saw the shine of a light resting for a split second on them. Sara had obviously seen it as well, as she changed the direction. She continued running and Greg wondered how long they would hold out, when the light was resting on them again.

Greg heard a shot behind him and saw Sara falling.

He cried out and tried to stop, but stumbled over Sara and fell, too, when he heard a second shot. He crashed on the ground hard and pain shot through him.

He lay there dazed for some seconds, then he tried to stand up, but felt dizzily.

"Sara, we have to go," he mumbled, fearing the person who had shot would come up to them to finish what they had started.

His right leg was paining intensely and he sat down on the ground again. He dragged himself towards Sara, barely able to see her. Only then he realized that the light was gone, that whoever had shot was gone, hopefully gone.

Sara had not answered and Greg felt cold. When he reached her, he touched her carefully. "Sara, answer me, please."

Sara stirred. "Greg," she said, "Where are they?" she asked fearfully, as if expecting the men who had hunted them coming up behind Greg.

"They're gone," Greg answered, hoping it was true.

He stroke down her side and stopped when Sara winced, the same moment when his hand met a heavily bleeding wound on her waist.

"Do we have something to bandage this?" he asked.

Sara shook her head.

"We have to call for help," Greg said.

"Where's this damn back-up?" Sara wondered aloud without replying to Greg.

"Sara, we have to-," Greg started again, but Sara yelled, "I know Greg, damn it. I lost my cell phone. You can search the whole wood if you want to. Tell me when you find it."

Greg did not answer, knowing that it was stress, fear and pain that caused her to snap at him in this way.

He had left his own phone in his kit, he thought guiltily. Now he would have to find a way out for them.

"Can you walk?" he asked Sara, knowing that he probably would not be able to, as he thought that his leg had broken when he had fallen.

"I can try," Sara answered, pressing her hand on her side. She stood up and reeled forwards. After a few steps she stopped and turned around to Greg. She could not see him and neither could he see her. "Do you come?"

"Yeah," Greg lied. He crabbed some paces towards her, but did not dare to stand up again. He heard Sara walking away, probably thinking he was behind her. Some seconds later he could not hear her anymore. He crabbed some more paces, but stopped then.

It was pointless. He had to wait for Sara to bring help. He hoped that she was not too severely injured to get out of the woods and find somebody to help them.

He leaned against a tree and laid his injured leg as comfortable as possible, trying to find the position in that it hurt least.

Then he heard something he did not want to hear already. "Greg," called Sara quietly.

Greg looked into the direction the voice was coming from. "Sara, what are you doing here?"

"I can't walk anymore and I feel so cold and…"

Greg could hear that she was crying.

Suddenly she was at his side. Greg embraced her and felt that she was shaking heavily. She had probably lost a large amount of blood. He feared that she would not hold out very much longer.

He tried to stand up again. He had to get the both of them out of here. A new wave of dizziness rolled over him and he cried out when pain shot again through his leg. It was so severe that he felt faint.

He lied down on the ground, Sara next to him, now only hoping for someone to find them, but fearing in the last moments before all got black, that it would be the wrong persons, those who had shot.

* * *

Catherine kneeled down and touched Sara softly. She felt so cold. 

Trembling slightly in fear on what she might find or not find, Catherine turned to Greg and searched for a pulse. She found it, deeply relieved.

"Damn, Greg. You gave me such a fright," she whispered. He did not feel as cold as Sara, and Catherine did not see any external wounds either, but his right leg seemed to lie in an odd angle and he was deathly pale.

She turned around to talk to Grissom, only to realize that he was gone. "Where's he gone?" she asked the two people that stood next to her.

"Get the paramedics," the officer who was in charge answered.

Catherine turned back to Greg and Sara and saw that Greg had opened his eyes and looked at her, but his gaze seemed unfocused.

He turned his head to Sara. He touched her cheek and mumbled something.

"What do you want to say, Greg?" Catherine asked, "Can you sit up?"

Greg shook his head.

"She's alive, Greg," Catherine told him softly.

At this moment several paramedics were hurrying up to them. Catherine stepped back to make room for them. She turned to the man who had stopped next to her and saw Grissom's determination to find out what had happened.

* * *

Ecklie swung his swivel chair to turn to Grissom. "Tell me what happened." 

Grissom leaned back in his chair, preparing himself for a longer stay.

"The initial homicide was a murder after a disagreement between bank robbers. When Sara and Greg were processing the scene the killer returned with several accomplices. They shot down the whole scene, killing two officers and injuring two severely."

"Sara and Greg fled and hid in the woods, waiting for back-up, but before it arrived two of the attackers went to search for them, while their accomplices searched the house for a large amount of money that was obviously hidden there. That was the reason they had come back, they wanted to find it before we did," Grissom explained.

Ecklie nodded. "And Sanders and Sidle?"

"They fled deeper into the woods."

"Go on."

"They were shot at. Sara was hit and fell to the ground. Greg fell over her, but he was not hit. He broke his leg though, bruised his rips and has a minor concussion."

"Would it have been possible for them to avoid what happened? Calling for back-up earlier -"

In an unusual outburst of emotion, Grissom slammed his flat hands on the desk in front of him.

"Damn it, Conrad. Why are you always trying to make somebody responsible? Sara and Greg have done nothing, I repeat: nothing wrong. They did the only thing they could do in a situation hopefully none of us will ever be in."

Ecklie folded his hands, but did not reply to Grissom's outburst, instead he asked,

"What about the assailants?"

"Fled."

After some seconds of silence, Ecklie asked, "How are they?"

"They'll be fine," Grissom answered briefly.

* * *

Greg hopped after Sara into her apartment and shut the door. 

Sara raised her eyebrows. "You know, you could use the crutches instead of hopping on one leg."

Greg shrugged. "It's more fun this way," he said and laid down the crutches next to the door and skipped to the couch.

Sara shook her head. "I have to remember that you hit your head. Otherwise I'd think this is your normal behavior."

She sat down on the couch next to him.

"How are you?" Greg asked.

Sara smiled weakly. "Well, I don't exactly feel on top of the world and I'm still a little sore, but apart from that, fine, really." She looked down on her right side. "It will take some time though, until I'll sleep on this side again."

Greg leaned forward and let his hand hover over the so vulnerable skin. Then he kissed Sara gently until she deepened the kiss. Greg laid his hands around her back and embraced her. He opened his eyes and saw that Sara's eyes were wet.

He backed away, worried. "What's wrong?"

Sara shook her head, smiling. "Nothing, I'm just glad." Greg kissed her again.

"Are you still up for the trip to your family?" Sara asked. "I mean, Grissom has declared quite convincingly that he won't let us enter the lab for another two weeks." She grimaced.

"Yeah, of course I am, if you feel well enough…"

"I do, Greg." She grinned. "And I will drive the whole way to California, as you obviously can't." She looked at his plastered leg meaningfully.

Greg looked sulky. "Damn," he exclaimed and Sara laughed.

**The end**

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**A/N2: **Yep, this is already the end of this story. This story here was kinda an occupational accident. (Poor Greg and Sara.) In a new story will follow what I actually had planned to write: Greg and Sara's trip to Greg's family. :D

I don't know at all though, when this will be up, as I try to do some writing sometime between Uni, work and all the other stuff. :-)


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